


The Final Candidate

by Nex_the_Spellcaster



Category: The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:54:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28101243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nex_the_Spellcaster/pseuds/Nex_the_Spellcaster
Summary: "Being a Runner . . . I don't know. It just . . . feels right.""Yeah, well, don't expect to be one right away. You gotta work for it.""How'd a girl become a Runner anyways?""I clawed my way up from the bottom, just like you gotta do."Or . . .The first girl comes up in the Box. The Gladers don't know what to do with her or how to feel about it - especially when she doesn't even remember her name - so they stick her with the Med-Jacks, hoping she'll be content. What happens when she decides to race Minho and he says she should become a Runner? Will she take the challenge or not? And when Thomas comes up a year later, why does he look so familiar?
Relationships: Brenda/Thomas (Maze Runner), Minho/Original Character(s), Newt (Maze Runner)/Original Character(s), Teresa Agnes/Brenda (Maze Runner), Teresa Agnes/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Kudos: 4





	The Final Candidate

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic on here so please be nice!  
> I do accept criticism as long as it's constructive and not just bashing me for bad writing.  
> I hate leaving long notes so I'll try to be short here.  
> The main character is AFAB and uses she/her pronouns for a while, but not the whole time. Newt x OC is implied slightly but it doesn't really happen; I love Newt but I wanted to try something different this time. Teresa x Brenda is also slightly implied. It is written in first person and not much description is given for the OC, so you can imagine them however you'd like :)  
> Original work is on fanfiction.net and yes, it's still written by me, so don't try to copyright me or anything lol  
> Sorry for the long, boring note and I hope you enjoy the story!!

I jerked awake with a gasp. At first glance, I didn't see anything wrong. I was in my cold, dark room like always. _I must have fallen off the bed again_ , I thought and started to get up, but froze when my hand touched the ground. _What?_ Instead of the rough carpet, I was sitting on some sort of metal with small holes in it, almost like a cage. 

“Hello?” I called into the darkness. “Miss Ava? Janson? This isn't funny.” I looked around, trying to make out anything around me. _Where’d my glasses go?_ “You can turn on the lights now.” Still nothing. Then it clicked. “Ahh, this is another simulation, isn't it?” I said quietly, almost to myself. 

And then things started disappearing. Faces, names. I had said 'Miss Ava' but . . . who was that? And Janson? I'd never heard that name in my life. I sat in silence as my memories faded away. What could I do? I could yell and scream, sure, but it wouldn't do any good. 

Hours passed in cold, crushing silence. I sat there, curled in a little ball, thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. I'd almost fallen asleep a few times but I forced myself to stay awake; if I fell asleep, I could very well die from the cold. _Hypothermia_ , my brain whispered. 

Before I could even start to wonder why I knew that, the cage lurched to a stop with a loud clang, and the dim siren I heard stopped as well. I didn't move except to look up, or where I assumed was up. A small crack appeared, then grew quickly to reveal . . . blinding light. I threw up a hand to block my face, but not before the light flashed right into my eyes. After spending so much time in the darkness, it made them burn. Rubbing my eyes, I heard a chorus of voices from above. 

"What's the shank look like?" 

"Is he short?" 

"Nah, I'll bet he's tall." 

"Dude, it smells like _feet_ down there." 

“Hope you enjoyed the one-way trip, Greenie.” 

"He'll be a Slopper for sure." 

All the voices were unmistakably male and the slang they used rolled around in my head. Slopper. Shank. Greenie. They sounded both foreign and familiar at the same time. 

"Slim it, shuckfaces. Can't even see what he looks like." My eyes had adjusted but I was a little afraid to move my hands away. They were all boys. All of them. 

The cage rattled as someone dropped in and for a heart-stopping moment, I thought it might fall. Thankfully, it stayed and the boy walked up to me, stopping just a footstep away. Slowly, I moved my hand from my face and looked up at him. His eyes widened and he sucked in a breath. 

"What is it, Gally?" Someone shouted. Gally. So that was this boy's name. Gally. I looked him up and down once, then stared directly into his eyes. From where I sat, he towered over me, casting part of his face into shadow, and I couldn't see his features that well. 

"Come on Gally, we don't have all shuckin' day. Grab the bloody Newbie and let's go." He hesitated for a moment, clearly shocked by my appearance, then stuck out a hand to help me up, which I took. My legs weren't ready for the weight - after sitting in a ball for so long, they'd practically fallen asleep - and I stumbled into him. He grabbed me under the arms, steadying me on my feet, and his touch lingered just a second longer than necessary. 

“Ain’t never seen you take interest in a Greenie before,” the same voice said from behind him as the boy jumped in behind Gally. Then he looked around him and drew in a sharp breath at the sight of me standing there in my loose shirt and tight pants, scrunching up my nose as I looked at him. “Holy . . .” 

The two of them stood there, staring at me, while I squinted back. The second boy was about the same height as Gally and had dirty blond hair that fell to just past his chin. Judging from his stance, he was older than Gally was and probably a higher rank, if there was one wherever I’d just shown up. He was too far for me to see anything else, so I turned my gaze to Gally. 

He was tall, almost an entire head taller than I was, and skinny, although I could tell from where I was standing that he was strong. Short black hair and a nose like a small potato; he seemed like he’d have a deep voice, deeper even than the blond-haired boy’s, which was pretty deep. 

“What the shuck is going on down there?” An angry voice said from above. I looked up to see a dark-skinned boy standing there, glaring down at us. He was too far to make out any of his features, but he jerked back when he caught sight of my face and I heard his sharp intake of breath. _What? Do I look that bad or something?_

"Gally, let’s get the Greenie outta here. Alby’ll take care of it.” Glancing back at the blond boy, I wondered why he had an accent while the others seemed not to. Gally nodded and grabbed something from the wall; a rope, I realized as he brought it closer. 

“Come on, let’s go.” He spoke for the first time and confirmed my suspicions. He didn't look older than fourteen, but his voice had already matured, although it seemed slightly out of place with his body. 

Since I could see no other options - or see anything in general - I moved towards him slowly, my body tense just in case . . . _in case what?_ A small tremor ran through my spine and I resisted the urge to shake my body like a dog to rid myself of the feeling. 

“Go on, Greenie. Gally ain’t gonna bite ya.” The accented voice sounded from directly next to me and I jumped in surprise, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath. A heavy hand landed on my shoulder and I flinched involuntarily. “Don’t worry, just go up.” A small push forced me to move, almost stumbling into Gally for the second time in less than ten minutes. 

Tentatively, I took the rope and shoved a foot into the loop, standing on it without a problem. Gally shouted up for them to pull me up and patted my back as I started going up. I bumped against the cage wall a couple times before hands started reaching for me, pulling me out. I ended up on my stomach on top of . . . was that _grass?_

“Welcome to the Glade, shank.” I looked up to see the dark-skinned boy from before extending a hand towards me. Hesitating for a moment, I wondered what would happen if I didn't take the hand and tried to run off instead, but mentally shook my head. Nothing good could possibly come of that. At least these people knew what was happening here. 

Reaching out, I took his hand and he hauled me to my feet. A hush fell over the group when they saw me, actually saw me, and I looked around, my heart sinking as I studied every face I could. They were all boys, but what made it worse was that they were all _kids_. There was no adult in sight. 

With the same suddenness that made the group fall silent, they exploded with questions and comments. 

“Is that a girl?” 

“That’s a _girl_.” 

“They sendin’ girls now?” 

"I call dibs!” That one got a few laughs. The boy in front of me - the dark-skinned one that was only a few inches taller than me - shouted out, his face turning red. 

“If anyone, _anyone_ lays a single shucking _finger_ on her,” he yelled, “you’ll be Banished, no questions asked. Keep your shucking hands to yourself, slintheads.” I decided in that moment to trust him. He threatened the entire group for me, a mere girl who’d shown up ten minutes ago. “You.” My eyes widened slightly as he pointed at me. “Come with me. And no questions. Save those for Nick.” I hesitated, then nodded. He turned on his heel and walked off, heading for a short, wide, wooden building. Upon further inspection, I realized it was nestled in the corner of what appeared to be an enormous stone square. There were stone walls reaching so high I thought they would touch the heavens with an opening on every side. 

“Greenie!” I glanced back to see the boy standing in front of the building and motioning for me to hurry up. “You’ll have time to look around later.” I jogged to catch up and he held open the door for me to duck inside. Looking around, I noticed that there were a bunch of randomly placed blankets. At my confused expression, he said that most of the boys slept in here and led me up a set of creaky stairs. 

He knocked on a door at the end of the hall that we came into from the stairs. “Come in,” a weary voice sounded from behind the wood. He opened the door and walked in, then closed the door, leaving me to stand outside. “What is it, Alby?” So the dark-skinned boy’s name was Alby. 

"It’s the Greenie.” 

“Well bring him in then. And make it quick, I have klunk to finish.” _Klunk?_ I didn't have time to think about the new slang word because Alby opened the door and motioned for me to come inside. I was brimming with questions but kept my mouth shut and stepped into the room. Was Nick the boy sitting behind the small desk, hunched over papers? 

"Here’s the Greenie, Nick.” Guess so. He seemed to be the Leader in this place, even though I assumed Alby was by the way he threatened the group earlier; since he brought me to this boy instead of explaining anything though, maybe he wasn't. Nick looked up, his somewhat short, light brown hair falling into his face. I didn't want to seem rude by squinting at him, so I settled for just seeing part of his features. 

“Holy shit.” 

“Language, Nick.” So maybe Alby was the leader? Or older than Nick at least. “We have slang for a reason.” Nick shook his head, his eyes wide - even from this distance I could tell - and he was mumbling something. “ _Nick_. Focus.” Nick blinked a couple times and shook his head again. 

“Sorry Alby. I just . . .” 

“It sent you back. I know. Just focus. What do we do with the shank?” Sent him back? Back where? 

“What’d you tell the Gladers?” My eyebrows drew together. Gladers? _The name for the rest of the boys, idiot. Gotta call this place something._

“I told ‘em they’d be Banished if they lay a single shucking finger on her.” Nick nodded slowly. 

“That should work. For a while, at least. No sayin’ what anyone might do but that should keep them at bay for a bit.” He looked at me then, straight in the eyes. Or so I assumed. “What’s your name? I know you remember that much.” 

"It’s . . .” I paused, reaching for my name, but it was just a bit too far for me to touch. I tried again, but it slipped out of my grasp. “I don't recall.” Nick made a noise, although out of surprise or annoyance, I couldn’t tell. “Sorry.” He dismissed my apology with a tired wave of his hand. 

“Don't be. Just means we call you Greenie ‘till you remember.” I nodded and clasped my hands behind my back. “Alby, give her the Tour. She’s one of us now and we’re gonna damn well treat her like one.” Alby sighed at Nick’s cursing but led me out of the room and back down the stairs at the other end of the hall. 

By time the sun had started going down, I knew where everything was in the Glade. The Homestead - which was the building where I met Nick - was in the northwest corner. The gardens were in the northeast, the Blood House was in the southeast, and the Deadheads took up almost all of the southwest corner. The small forest intrigued me, although I couldn't tell why. 

“Any questions?” I shook my head. In reality, I was overflowing with them, but I stayed quiet. “Don't talk much, do you?” I hadn't said anything during the Tour either. Shaking my head again, he snorted. “That’ll be a nice change from the rest of these shanks. Now c’mon, I’m gonna bring you around, introduce you to some of the nice slintheads here.” 

First stop was back at the Homestead. After leading me back upstairs, Alby opened the second door and I found myself in a large room, one that took up about half of the building’s upstairs. There were five beds, evenly spaced along the back wall, and taking up the entire left wall were tables filled with assortments of dried herbs and flowers in glass jars and all sorts of metal tools, some of which I recognized. There were cloth bandages - some of them had faded stains on them - and standing there, organizing things, was a young boy; he was short, even shorter than I was, with black hair, and he looked about thirteen. Not being able to see was really starting to piss me off. 

“This here’s Clint,” Alby said, walking over and smacking the boy on the back. “He’s our Med-Jack. Clint, this is the Greenie.” He walked over and stuck out his hand. 

“Hi.” I shook it and nodded at him. “What’s your name?” 

“Can't remember.” His eyebrows drew together. 

“Can’t remember? But . . .” 

“We know, Clint. Just means the shuck Creators are giving us more work to do.” Up close, I could see his green eyes and he had some adorable little freckles scattered across his nose and cheeks. 

“Alby! Where _are_ you, ya bloody slinthead?” Alby chuckled. 

“In here.” 

“Shuck Alby, I’ve been runnin’ around the Glade lookin’ for ya.” The tall boy with the accent came into the room and held something out to him. “Here. These came up in the Box and the boys dunno what to do with ‘em.” 

"I’m pretty sure they're hers, Newt.” Newt. I could remember everyone’s name just fine, but I couldn't find my own. Newt turned and looked at me. 

“You use glasses?” I nodded, a wave of relief washing over me. I was afraid I’d have to squint at things forever. “Here.” He handed them to me and I put them on gratefully. 

“Thanks.” I said quietly. He just shrugged. 

“It’s nothin’ really. Any of these shanks would’ve done it.” Now that he was closer - and now that I had my glasses - I tilted my chin up and studied his face. Bright blue eyes with a touch of light brown around the pupil. His dirty blond hair went down to just above his shoulders, but it looked mostly clean and well-kept, and it wasn't a bad look on him either. 

Judging his height now, I could tell he was a couple inches shorter than Gally, but he gave off a commanding air that made him seem taller than anyone in the room. Which he technically was, at the moment, but that wasn't the point. He seemed to be about sixteen, possibly the oldest here - but then again, Alby looked about seventeen, the closest to an adult. With a jolt of surprise, I realized that I didn't even know how old _I_ was. 

“Can’t tell if you look better or worse with those ugly things,” Alby said, the amusement clear in his tone. “Either way, at least you can see now. Newt, this is the Greenie. Greenie, Newt.” Newt smiled softly and bent down slightly, lifting my hand to his mouth and giving it a butterfly soft kiss. 

"A pleasure to meet you.” 

I smirked and replied: “The pleasure’s all mine.” Clint groaned at the same time that Alby walked over and put Newt into a chokehold, messing up his hair. 

“Stop that, you piece of accented klunk. Bad enough that we got _you_ to deal with, we don't need another one.” Newt was trying to squirm away but Alby was too strong. The way they fought with each other - and the way they were leaning into each other - told me they did that all the time. Clint didn't seem worried either, just watched with crossed arms and struggled to keep a straight face. 

A bell rang out and the two boys jumped apart, racing past me and reaching for the door, but Clint got there first and blocked their way. “Nuh uh,” he said. “One of you shanks gotta show her where to go and I ain’t doin’ it.” Alby looked at Newt who sighed and turned back. 

“Let’s go then Greenie.” The other two had already disappeared down the stairs, leaving us upstairs alone. Well, not entirely alone, since I hadn't seen Nick come out from his office yet, but alone in the hallway. 

“And what if I don't? I don't technically have reason to trust you, now do I?” Newt blinked a couple times, his brain processing what I’d said. 

“Greenie, do you have an _accent?_ ” It was my turn to be surprised. 

“What are you talking about? Of course I don't.” 

“No, you definitely do, it’s just different from mine.” I shrugged and crossed my arms. When it was clear that I wasn't going to say anything more on the matter, Newt turned and walked down the stairs. “That bell was for dinner,” he explained when we reached the bottom. “All the best food is served first, which is why everyone is always rushing to get in line. We’ll be last, so we get stuck with whatever klunk Frypan scrapes from the bottom of his pots.” I nodded even though he couldn't see me and we walked into the dining hall side by side.


End file.
